If Lan Jin had known what Captain Zhang was thinking, she would've cursed him right then and there. Nana only listened to her because he'd drunk her spirit spring water, which gave him intelligence. And this black panther? It was already terrifying enough. How could she dare let it drink the spring water?
Sure, if the training went well, that'd be great. But if it didn't, the hatred between her and that beast would be carved in stone.
Luckily, Lan Jin didn't know. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had the heart to keep watch over the base's safety. She was too busy frying mutated creatures left and right, even zapping two giant rabbits into twitching corpses.
…
While dealing with the mutated creatures, one thing really puzzled her. None of them had human faces. They were just oversized versions of regular animals. That only made her more determined for the base to fully investigate how the human-faced creatures were created. Otherwise, who knew how much trouble they'd stir up later.
Since the beasts were endless in number, once the panther at the gate was dragged inside, Captain Zhang immediately focused on repairing the gate.
Nothing in this world was more important than the base's gate. Without it, could they even call this place safe? On top of that, with the heat blazing like this, the lack of a sealed gate meant the cooling system barely worked.
But repairing it was no easy task.
The front gate wasn't just tall, it was monstrously wide. Back in the old world, machinery would've been required just to move and install it. But now, with mutated corpses piled high inside the base, there was no way to bring in the equipment. So once again, the problem fell squarely onto Lao Gao and Huang Jinghe's shoulders.
Everyone knew they were strong, but when the two of them each lifted a section of the massive gate with their bare hands, the onlookers were stunned speechless.
"This… this is insane."
"Yeah, no normal person could have that kind of strength."
"Don't tell me they took gene-modifying drugs…"
"Stop talking nonsense. Those drugs only extend lifespan, they don't make you stronger."
"Then how do you explain this? Ordinary people couldn't even dream of it."
Captain Zhang cut in, "Do you think people with powers like that are ordinary?"
The moment he said that, the crowd fell silent. Lao Gao and Huang Jinghe propped the gate into place and walked off to do other tasks, not lingering a moment longer. They'd heard the comments, of course, but there was no point explaining. The more you said, the more questions people would ask. Better to keep quiet from the start.
…
Because the gate was so enormous, repairing it took the entire night. And once dawn hit, the mutated creatures outside would start waking up.
Captain Zhang turned to Lan Jin while she was still stationed on the wall. "You and Xiao Huang work together. Hit the mutated creatures outside with another round of lightning. We've gotta clear the ones inside before we can even think about the ones outside."
"Got it."
She and Huang Jinghe moved along the top of the wall, striking anything that moved. Dead or not, every creature got another jolt just in case.
Sure enough, some had survived the first strike. When lightning coursed through them again, they shrieked, twisted, then collapsed for good.
Once they finished, Lan Jin found Captain Zhang. "Captain Zhang, how do you usually deal with all these mutated creatures?"
He replied, "First, we take out the crystal stones. Then, if the meat's edible, we store it. Energy sources aren't renewable, so we can't afford to waste food. Of course, the ones that are too weird-looking, the base won't touch."
Lan Jin arched a brow. "You're not worried about bugs? You're not gonna eat those, right?"
Captain Zhang waved it off. "Relax. The base never touched bug meat before, and we won't now. And since you guys killed them, the crystal stones and contribution points won't be taken from you. But the base does claim half, you know that."
"I remember. I was just curious. I get that the meat's edible, but with so many mutated creatures, how do you even store it?"
"The base can hold some inside. I've already ordered the edible parts from the internal beasts to be carried in. For the outside ones, we'll sort through them, freeze the meat with our equipment, then later build a food processing factory. We'll turn the meat into canned goods and sausages. We don't waste food here, ever."
"Food processing factory?"
Lao Gao frowned. "You guys really use everything. But are you sure this meat's safe? Don't forget, these things crawled straight out of paintings. What if it's poisonous?"
"We'll make sure. Before people eat it, animals will test it first. If they don't die, then it'll go to the residents. You think we'd poison ourselves?"
"Fine, as long as you've got a plan. But tell me for real, you're not gonna make us eat bug meat, right?"
Lan Jin's nose wrinkled at the thought. She meant those many-legged monstrosities. Sure, they looked meaty, but just imagining eating one made her stomach turn. She almost wanted to swear off base rations forever.
Captain Zhang promised firmly, "Don't worry. We're not anywhere near that desperate. No bugs. None. You can relax, really."
…
It took a full day to clean up the creatures inside the base.
Once everything was disinfected, the cleanup teams drove out through the newly repaired gate and began tackling the piles outside.
The heat was still brutal, but even with temperatures hitting sixty degrees, one night wasn't enough for the corpses to rot.
Almost every available team was sent out, with only a few left behind for interrogations. Ling Jiang was taken along as well.
If the bodies stayed too long, they'd start to stink. With Ling Jiang freezing piles of meat into giant blocks of ice after the crystal stones were removed, the problem was solved.
The base's ice-type users stayed stationed nearby, reinforcing the melting blocks. No matter what came up, there was always a way to handle it.